JavaScript & DHTML Cookbook, 2nd Edition

Larger Cover

By Danny Goodman

Publisher: O'Reilly Media

Released: August 2007

Pages: 608

In today's Web 2.0 world, JavaScript and Dynamic HTML are at the center of the hot new approach to designing highly interactive pages on the client side. With this environment in mind, the new edition of this book offers bite-sized solutions to very specific scripting problems that web developers commonly face. Each recipe includes a focused piece of code that you can insert right into your application.

Why is JavaScript & DHTML Cookbook so popular? After reading thousands of forum threads over the years, author and scripting pioneer Danny Goodman has compiled a list of problems that frequently vex scripters of various experience levels. For every problem he addresses, Goodman not only offers code, but a discussion of how and why the solution works. Recipes range from simple tasks, such as manipulating strings and validating dates in JavaScript, to entire libraries that demonstrate complex tasks, such as cross-browser positioning of HTML elements, sorting tables, and implementing Ajax features on the client.

Ideal for novices as well as experienced scripters, this book contains more than 150 recipes for:

Working with interactive forms and style sheets
Presenting user-friendly page navigation
Creating dynamic content via Document Object Model scripting
Producing visual effects for stationary content
Positioning HTML elements
Working with XML data in the browser

Recipes in this Cookbook are compatible with the latest W3C standards and browsers, including Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 2, Safari, and Opera 9. Several new recipes provide client-side Ajax solutions, and many recipes from the previous edition have been revised to help you build extensible user interfaces for Web 2.0 applications. If you want to write your own scripts and understand how they work, rather than rely on a commercial web development framework, the JavaScript & DHTML Cookbook is a must.

Chapter 1 Strings
1. Introduction
2. Concatenating (Joining) Strings
3. Improving String Handling Performance
4. Accessing Substrings
5. Changing String Case
6. Testing Equality of Two Strings
7. Testing String Containment Without Regular Expressions
8. Testing String Containment with Regular Expressions
9. Searching and Replacing Substrings
10. Using Special and Escaped Characters
11. Reading and Writing Strings for Cookies
12. Converting Between Unicode Values and String Characters
13. Encoding and Decoding URL Strings
14. Encoding and Decoding Base64 Strings
Chapter 2 Numbers and Dates
1. Introduction
2. Converting Between Numbers and Strings
3. Testing a Number's Validity
4. Testing Numeric Equality
5. Rounding Floating-Point Numbers
6. Formatting Numbers for Text Display
7. Converting Between Decimal and Hexadecimal Numbers
8. Generating Pseudorandom Numbers
9. Calculating Trigonometric Functions
10. Creating a Date Object
11. Calculating a Previous or Future Date
12. Calculating the Number of Days Between Two Dates
13. Validating a Date
Chapter 3 Arrays and Objects
1. Introduction
2. Creating a Simple Array
3. Creating a Multidimensional Array
4. Converting Between Arrays and Strings
5. Doing Something with the Items in an Array
6. Sorting a Simple Array
7. Combining Arrays
8. Dividing Arrays
9. Creating a Custom Object
10. Simulating a Hash Table for Fast Array Lookup
11. Doing Something with a Property of an Object
12. Sorting an Array of Objects
13. Customizing an Object's Prototype
14. Converting Arrays and Custom Objects to Strings
15. Using Objects to Reduce Naming Conflicts
Chapter 4 Variables, Functions, and Flow Control
1. Introduction
2. Creating a JavaScript Variable
3. Creating a Named Function
4. Nesting Named Functions
5. Creating an Anonymous Function
6. Delaying a Function Call
7. Branching Execution Based on Conditions
8. Handling Script Errors Gracefully
9. Improving Script Performance
Chapter 5 Browser Feature Detection
1. Introduction
2. Detecting the Browser Brand
3. Detecting an Early Browser Version
4. Detecting the Internet Explorer Version
5. Detecting the Mozilla Version
6. Detecting the Safari Version
7. Detecting the Opera Version
8. Detecting the Client Operating System
9. Detecting Object Support
10. Detecting Object Property and Method Support
11. Detecting W3C DOM Standard Support
12. Detecting the Browser Written Language
13. Detecting Cookie Availability
14. Defining Browser- or Feature-Specific Links
15. Testing on Multiple Browser Versions
Chapter 6 Managing Browser Windows
1. Introduction
2. Living with Browser Window Control Limitations
3. Setting the Main Window's Size
4. Positioning the Main Window
5. Maximizing the Main Window
6. Creating a New Window
7. Bringing a Window to the Front
8. Communicating with a New Window
9. Communicating Back to the Main Window
10. Using Internet Explorer Modal/Modeless Windows
11. Simulating a Cross-Browser Modal Dialog Window
12. Simulating a Window with Layers
Chapter 7 Managing Multiple Frames
1. Introduction
2. Creating a Blank Frame in a New Frameset
3. Changing the Content of One Frame from Another
4. Changing the Content of Multiple Frames at Once
5. Replacing a Frameset with a Single Page
6. Avoiding Being "Framed" by Another Site
7. Ensuring a Page Loads in Its Frameset
8. Reading a Frame's Dimensions
9. Resizing Frames
10. Setting Frameset Specifications Dynamically
Chapter 8 Dynamic Forms
1. Introduction
2. Auto-Focusing the First Text Field
3. Performing Common Text Field Validations
4. Preventing Form Submission upon Validation Failure
5. Auto-Focusing an Invalid Text Field Entry
6. Using a Custom Validation Object
7. Changing a Form's Action
8. Blocking Submissions from the Enter Key
9. Advancing Text Field Focus with the Enter Key
10. Submitting a Form by an Enter Key Press in Any Text Box
11. Disabling Form Controls
12. Hiding and Showing Form Controls
13. Allowing Only Numbers (or Letters) in a Text Box
14. Auto-Tabbing for Fixed-Length Text Boxes
15. Changing select Element Content
16. Copying Form Data Between Pages
Chapter 9 Managing Events
1. Introduction
2. Equalizing the IE and W3C Event Models
3. Initiating a Process After the Page Loads
4. Appending Multiple Load Event Handlers
5. Determining the Coordinates of a Click Event
6. Preventing an Event from Performing Its Default Behavior
7. Blocking Duplicate Clicks
8. Determining Which Element Received an Event
9. Determining Which Mouse Button Was Pressed
10. Reading Which Character Key Was Typed
11. Reading Which Noncharacter Key Was Pressed
12. Determining Which Modifier Keys Were Pressed During an Event
13. Determining the Element the Cursor Rolled From/To
14. Synchronizing Sounds to Events
Chapter 10 Page Navigation Techniques
1. Introduction
2. Loading a New Page or Anchor
3. Keeping a Page Out of the Browser History
4. Using a select Element for Navigation
5. Passing Data Between Pages via Cookies
6. Passing Data Between Pages via Frames
7. Passing Data Between Pages via URLs
8. Creating a Contextual (Right-Click) Menu
9. Creating Drop-Down Navigation Menus
10. Providing Navigation Trail Menus
11. Creating Expandable Menus
12. Creating Collapsible XML Menus
Chapter 11 Managing Style Sheets
1. Introduction
2. Assigning Style Sheet Rules to an Element Globally
3. Assigning Style Sheet Rules to a Subgroup of Elements
4. Assigning Style Sheet Rules to an Individual Element
5. Importing External Style Sheets
6. Importing Browser-or Operating System-Specific Style Sheets
7. Changing Imported Style Sheets After Loading
8. Enabling/Disabling Style Sheets
9. Toggling Between Style Sheets for an Element
10. Overriding a Style Sheet Rule
11. Turning Arbitrary Content into a Styled Element
12. Creating Center-Aligned Body Elements
13. Reading Effective Style Sheet Property Values
14. Forcing Recent Browsers into Standards-Compatibility Mode
Chapter 12 Visual Effects for Stationary Content
1. Introduction
2. Precaching Images
3. Swapping Images (Rollovers)
4. Reducing Rollover Image Downloads with JavaScript
5. Reducing Rollover Image Downloads with CSS
6. Dynamically Changing Image Sizes
7. Changing Text Style Properties
8. Offering Body Text Size Choices to Users
9. Creating Custom Link Styles
10. Changing Page Background Colors and Images
11. Hiding and Showing Elements
12. Adjusting Element Transparency
13. Creating Transition Visual Effects
14. Drawing Charts in the Canvas Element
Chapter 13 Positioning HTML Elements
1. Introduction
2. Making an Element Positionable in the Document Space
3. Connecting a Positioned Element to a Body Element
4. Controlling Positioning via a DHTML JavaScript Library
5. Deciding Between div and span Containers
6. Adjusting Positioned Element Stacking Order (Z-order)
7. Centering an Element on Top of Another Element
8. Centering an Element in a Window or Frame
9. Determining the Location of a Nonpositioned Element
10. Animating Straight-Line Element Paths
11. Animating Circular Element Paths
12. Creating a Draggable Element
13. Scrolling div Content
14. Creating a Custom Scrollbar
15. Creating a Slider Control
Chapter 14 Creating Dynamic Content
1. Introduction
2. Writing Dynamic Content During Page Loading
3. Creating New Page Content Dynamically
4. Including External HTML Content
5. Embedding XML Data
6. Embedding Data As JavaScript Objects
7. Transforming XML Data into HTML Tables
8. Transforming JavaScript Objects into HTML Tables
9. Converting an XML Node Tree to JavaScript Objects
10. Creating a New HTML Element
11. Creating Text Content for a New Element
12. Creating Mixed Element and Text Nodes
13. Inserting and Populating an iframe Element
14. Getting a Reference to an HTML Element Object
15. Referencing All Elements of the Same Class
16. Replacing Portions of Body Content
17. Removing Body Content
18. Using XMLHttpRequest for a REST Request
19. Using XMLHttpRequest for a SOAP Call
20. Sorting Dynamic Tables
21. Walking the Document Node Tree
22. Capturing Document Content
Chapter 15 Dynamic Content Applications
1. Introduction
2. Displaying a Random Aphorism
3. Converting a User Selection into an Arbitrary Element
4. Automating the Search-and-Replace of Body Content
5. Designing a User-Editable Content Page
6. Creating a Slide Show
7. Auto-Scrolling the Page
8. Greeting Users with Their Time of Day
9. Displaying the Number of Days Before Christmas
10. Displaying a Countdown Timer
11. Creating a Calendar Date Picker
12. Displaying an Animated Progress Bar

Appendix A Keyboard Event Character Values
Appendix B Keyboard Key Code Values
Appendix C ECMAScript Reserved Keywords
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Title:

JavaScript & DHTML Cookbook, 2nd Edition

By:

Danny Goodman

Publisher:

O'Reilly Media

Formats:

Print
Ebook
Safari Books Online

Print:

August 2007

Ebook:

December 2008

Pages:

608

Print ISBN:

978-0-596-51408-2

| ISBN 10:

0-596-51408-5

Ebook ISBN:

978-0-596-15887-3

| ISBN 10:

0-596-15887-4

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Table of Contents

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oreilly JavaScript & DHTML Cookbook, Second Edition

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Displaying reviews 1-2

10/4/2009

4.0

Great for Beginners!

By masonbarge

from Atlanta, GA

About Me Designer, Developer, Maker

Pros

Concise
Easy to understand
Helpful examples
Well-written

Cons

Too many errors

Best Uses

Novice
Student

Comments about oreilly JavaScript & DHTML Cookbook, Second Edition:

I've been trying to learn JavaScript and let me tell you, the most recommended books are impenetrable for a tyro, and were worthless to me as texts. He gets fairly sophisticated at times, but more advanced scripts or discussions have always had enough groundwork laid so that they are understandable.

Although called a cookbook, this is actually the only really good introductory book for javascript I've read, and I'm including online tutorials. I'm also using a major comprehensive book -- once I understand something from reading Goodman's work, I can find a section in the other book to expand my knowledge.

Also, I like his writing style and pace. He assumes a certain amount of intelligence and attention to prior pages.

My quibble with what would have been a five-star rating is overly frequent errata. But still, for me, this has been the only "introduction to JavaScript" that has done the job for me.

6/10/2008

(1 of 1 customers found this review helpful)

4.0

Get Cooking With JS/DHTML

By timmyc

from Undisclosed

Comments about oreilly JavaScript & DHTML Cookbook, Second Edition:

Like most web developers, I typically will reach for one of the many JS libraries when it comes time to add client-side enhancements to my

web applications. This is usually the obvious choice for the sake of saving time on projects, and keeping costs down... but quite often, many libraries are simply overkill for a simple little js/dhtml enhancement.

As such, that is what lead me to this book. I was hoping the cookbook format would give me some fresh ideas on doing some simple js/dhtml work and it most definitively delivered.

Perhaps the most valuable parts of this book for me were the aspects of working on the DOM. Additionally, I always enjoy reading different

techniques for dealing with client-side form validation.

To me the coverage on loading dynamic data/ajax was good, but I still think that when entering into that realm of JS, it is usually time to

deploy one of the libraries I mentioned earlier.

All in all this has become a valuable resource that I often refer to during my daily work. I would recommend this book for those looking for the cookbook approach... those looking for a pure JS book/primer, check the title by the same author.

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Chapter 1 Strings

Introduction

Concatenating (Joining) Strings

Improving String Handling Performance

Accessing Substrings

Changing String Case

Testing Equality of Two Strings

Testing String Containment Without Regular Expressions

Testing String Containment with Regular Expressions

Searching and Replacing Substrings

Using Special and Escaped Characters

Reading and Writing Strings for Cookies

Converting Between Unicode Values and String Characters

Encoding and Decoding URL Strings

Encoding and Decoding Base64 Strings

Chapter 2 Numbers and Dates

Introduction

Converting Between Numbers and Strings

Testing a Number's Validity

Testing Numeric Equality

Rounding Floating-Point Numbers

Formatting Numbers for Text Display

Converting Between Decimal and Hexadecimal Numbers

Generating Pseudorandom Numbers

Calculating Trigonometric Functions

Creating a Date Object

Calculating a Previous or Future Date

Calculating the Number of Days Between Two Dates

Validating a Date

Chapter 3 Arrays and Objects

Introduction

Creating a Simple Array

Creating a Multidimensional Array

Converting Between Arrays and Strings

Doing Something with the Items in an Array

Sorting a Simple Array

Combining Arrays

Dividing Arrays

Creating a Custom Object

Simulating a Hash Table for Fast Array Lookup

Doing Something with a Property of an Object

Sorting an Array of Objects

Customizing an Object's Prototype

Converting Arrays and Custom Objects to Strings

Using Objects to Reduce Naming Conflicts

Chapter 4 Variables, Functions, and Flow Control

Introduction

Creating a JavaScript Variable

Creating a Named Function

Nesting Named Functions

Creating an Anonymous Function

Delaying a Function Call

Branching Execution Based on Conditions

Handling Script Errors Gracefully

Improving Script Performance

Chapter 5 Browser Feature Detection

Introduction

Detecting the Browser Brand

Detecting an Early Browser Version

Detecting the Internet Explorer Version

Detecting the Mozilla Version

Detecting the Safari Version

Detecting the Opera Version

Detecting the Client Operating System

Detecting Object Support

Detecting Object Property and Method Support

Detecting W3C DOM Standard Support

Detecting the Browser Written Language

Detecting Cookie Availability

Defining Browser- or Feature-Specific Links

Testing on Multiple Browser Versions

Chapter 6 Managing Browser Windows

Introduction

Living with Browser Window Control Limitations

Setting the Main Window's Size

Positioning the Main Window

Maximizing the Main Window

Creating a New Window

Bringing a Window to the Front

Communicating with a New Window